Clinical analysis and diagnosis using medical images requires careful control and manipulation of view settings associated with particular image types. X-rays, ultrasounds, computerized tomography (CT) scans, and other medical image capture techniques require the use of carefully selected view configuration settings based upon the image capturing technique (e.g., the particular technology or device used to capture the image), the viewing angle (e.g., a front view or lateral view of the patient's anatomy), the particular portion of patient anatomy being imaged (e.g., torso, head, arm, leg), and the particular anatomical element desired to be viewed (e.g., viewing an image to diagnose a problem in the patient's lung may require different image view configuration settings than viewing a patient's heart). To view a scan of the patient's thoracic cavity, for example, a clinician may need to view the same image with a plurality of different configuration settings to properly view all of the anatomical elements within the same captured image portion. For example, an image may include both the patient's heart and lungs, but brightness and contrast settings used to visualize the lungs may result in a loss of visual fidelity in a region of the image corresponding to the heart, and vice-versa.
Accordingly, in order to properly clinically analyze images that include anatomical elements that, for proper visualization, require the use of multiple different configuration settings, the clinician often must flip back and forth between different viewer configurations to view the same image. Many clinicians address this problem by opening multiple viewports with different viewer configuration settings, but this solution is inadequate as it requires shifting their physical view across multiple different images.
Through applied effort, ingenuity, and innovation, the inventor has solved many of these identified problems by developing a technical solution that is embodied by the present invention, which is described in detail below.